Any "embarrassing" money saving things you do?

Softstuff

When my dad passed away I hired a skip to clean out the garage. I was thrilled to pieces when a neighbour asked for some of it, in fact I invited him in to help himself. Had it not been for him, I'd have needed at least 2 large skips. Normally here at home I advertise even the silliest things free on Gumtree and someone takes them (even a piece of rebar from the garden), but I had neither the time nor the inclination at that point.

I wonder when mentioning if a money saving idea is embarassing, are we talking about whether we're embarrassed or whether other people would be there's plenty of things I do that would mortify other people, but they don't worry me at all (trying "family cloth", sewing homemade sanitary towels, sharing pants, home haircutting, going grey...). Whatever I do is always 100% above board though, otherwise I couldn't sleep at night.... I'm the one who points out something mispriced rather than buying it, tells the assistant if I haven't been charged for something etc.

wondercollie

suki1964 wrote: »

Nowt embarrassing about that. I'd shop in aldi if it was in this country

When in Germany , we always shipped in aldi and lidl. The quality was second to none. Another store that's no longer seen is technibo ( ?sp). A coffee shop that done weekly / monthly household/ clothing bits. Great quality. I'm still using towels I got there 20 years back

Tchibo. Was in one in Austria an out two years ago. Ladies shirts were on offer

mcculloch29

I remember Tchibo from my time in Germany. I can't find any trace of it now but thirty years ago there was a sister company of Aldi in Germany, called Kodi, which sold basically everything except food. I think I still have a very threadbare towel that came from there.
There are two separate Aldi firms in Germany, Aldi Nord (North) and Aldi Sud (South). The logos are different ,so it's easy to tell which Aldi chain is which.
'Our' Aldis over here are linked with Aldi Sud, but in the areas of Germany I lived in, we had Aldi Nord, so the everything but food shop Kodi was probably part of the Aldi Nord operation.
As anyone who has lived in Germany will tell you, everything is hideously expensive over there, or it was. Aldi Specialbuys and Kodi kept me going.
The only time I could afford new clothes was in the sales. C & A were a godsend, ditto sale time at the Kaufhof department store...
Memories.

gien

suki1964 wrote: »

Nowt embarrassing about that. I'd shop in aldi if it was in this country

When in Germany , we always shipped in aldi and lidl. The quality was second to none. Another store that's no longer seen is technibo ( ?sp). A coffee shop that done weekly / monthly household/ clothing bits. Great quality. I'm still using towels I got there 20 years back

I shop at Tchibo too (I'm in Switzerland). Great value!

surfsister

Well what fun lots of people just like me - i collect a couple of sugars in cafes as I don't take sugar - fill up water bottle at work - use 10p poundland loo rolls for tissues - womble in the street as our street is very good for this! - use this site!!!!!

mrsinvisible

Embarrassing yes, dishonest, possibly, Costa napkins are the only ones that are folded to the size of my napkin dispenser. I don't buy costa coffees but if anyof my family are in one they will bring (just) one or two home. I cut down towels past their prime and use as cleaning cloths, (unhemmed) or facecloths (hemmed) l re-use foil, l never buy fabric softener, l line dry laundry, use the fast wash programme only and only wash a full load. lf an item is needed between loads l hand wash it. Bath water used on the garden and a bucket load down the loo before scrubbing it.l don't drink tea, but my luxury is my tassim@ coffee maker, l only buy when the pods are on special offer, but l enjoy each cup l make. The used pods l open and the grounds go on the garden to deter the march of the slugs to my plants. That is a really fiddly task, but worth the effort.

VfM4meplse

Tchibo was a great store, but one that survived in the UK with the growth of consumerism - I often found myself buying gadgets from there that I didn't even know I needed!

I have been known to tip the remaining full fat milk from the baby's bottle into my own tea / coffee after her sleepy-feed. Not necessarily embarrassing as I hate waste, but not to everyone's taste either!

Teacher2

I. too, have learned not to wash jeans too often. For me, it's not so much to save the washing costs but because faded jeans look awful on older people while dark, ironed jeans look smarter. My 'new' jeans have only been washed once since September last year. (They don't smell. I air them!)

I always buy high end goods when they are yellow-stickered and freeze them so eat like a king and spend like a pauper.

I buy brands when they are half price and stockpile them.

I don't buy drinks out now. I make cakes and come home for tea or do car-picnics. However, when 'Pink and Green' were doing multi-buy packets of blank greetings cards with free National Trust teas-for-two I bought them for notecards and am still using the tea-tokens.

I do all my correspondence in bed to save on the heating bill. In fact, I don't have the heating on in the day in winter but sit with a hot water bottle on my (always icy) feet.

I am a bookworm and use the library and charity shops for cheap/free reads.

I watch the Martin Lewis website for deals and bargains. It has saved me hundreds of pounds a year. I switched utilities last year to save £80 a month and I haven't bought a tube of my high end hand cream for over a year s ML alerts me to when it is a free giveaway with magazines. I have just bought an iPad Air with a token printed on the ML website.

Live well but wisely!

londonlydia

Judi wrote: »

Yes the thin stuff is too weak to be reused.

Old foil is great for cleaning rust off stuff: I left my bike in the work shed over winter whilst I moved, and on getting it back it was rusty in several places. Bit of scrunched up foil rubbed over the rusty parts got off the orange, bit of oil on the chain and it's absolutely perfect again.

VfM4meplse

londonlydia wrote: »

Old foil is great for cleaning rust off stuff: I left my bike in the work shed over winter whilst I moved, and on getting it back it was rusty in several places. Bit of scrunched up foil rubbed over the rusty parts got off the orange, bit of oil on the chain and it's absolutely perfect again.

I shall try it on a burnt iron (I know someone with both).